IMac vertical slot scratching discs?

Lately, after installing software on dvds, I have noticed that the discs have become scratched, in some cases scratched so badly that they are useless. Could it be that the iMac vertical slot exposes the disks to damage from contact with the aluminum shell or some internal parts? I didn't check the discs before I inserted them, but they were fresh out of their square white envelopes. Anybody else had this problem? My solution was to re-employ an old LaCie external optical drive with the usual horizontal plastic tray. No scratches thereafter.

I'll keep it in mind. Mine doesn't make any noise yet, but I have Applecare too. I found after I started this thread that there are already a few on this subject in the forum, so It's a systematic problem and hasn't been corrected yet. It could probably be fixed with a deburring tool and some high-number emery cloth; far be it from Apple to do that for us.

Similar Messages

Scratch Disc Questions using Firewire External Drive & Imac

Hello. I've read through the existing questions regarding scratch disc and Photoshop, yet can't seem to find an answer to my questions. I would greatly appreciate any tips/advice. Here is my setup and situation:
I am running an iMac with a 2.16 intel core 2 duo processor, 3 GB memory, and running OS X version 10.6.4. I am currently using versions cs3 and cs4 of Photoshop, but plan to upgrade to cs5 soon.
The problem I am having is when running Photoshop, my computer becomes very slow. After reading about possible reasons, I came across a couple of sources (including Adobe themeselves) mentioning that the scratch disc should be a designated drive seperate from the drive containing the operating system. Since I am using an iMac that only allows for one internal drive, my only apparent option seems to be an external drive.
Many people say don't use an external drive, but if you are going to; use an eSATA or firewire. The imac does have firewire 800 capabilities. Should I consider this?
Now I'm wondering if it's a bad idea to purchase a macbook for my next computer (what I wanted to do) because it will also only have one drive, not allowing for a seperate drive for the scratch disc. Any thoughts? I've read around the net but haven't found any definitive answers.

Designer,
Photoshop benefits greatly from having a scratch disk on a separate physical drive, not on the boot disk or on another partition of the boot disk. It's almost not worth connecting via Firewire 400 because the transfer limitations don't allow much performance improvement. But using a Firewire 800 connection gives excellent performance.
Running Photoshop on a one-drive machine is a little frustrating due to the performance hit without the separate scratch drive.
Rich

IMac scratching discs.

Ok so, I've got a 27" iMac and it's scratching discs. So today I've been trying too install something and the disc is scratched to much for use. This isn't a mistake of mine, I've researched it and the around the edge of the drive, the Aluminium is sharp, so when ejected, or inserted the disc gets scratched. I'm not sure what to do now, I've got software and various other things I cannot install because the discs has been scratched so much the data cannot be read. I've now got to work out how I'm going to install various things I've bought.

Yes. I just put in a new dvd and my 2010 imac ripped it apart. NOW I realize it's the case of the computer and that ALL my other media and substantial investment was pretty much destroyed. I thought it was because I was sloppy with the discs! But CHECK THIS OUT.
I called apple support and told them and also said it was a known issue on this "support" site and the supervisor said "that's just a blog, I don't take that seriously. Just a few people complaining about some isoloted issue."! Then I say "google it" it's all over this issue. Then he said "you can find anything on the internet." Unbelievable little snot this dude was. And apple, of course, is a terrible company for not issuing a notice for people on this (and for having slave labor in china etc. etc. etc.). The apple rep said that he didn't think this was an issue that would have required apple to notify its customers!
Total jerk. As is apple "geniuses" indeed - at ripping customers off with overpriced marketing gimmiks.

Moving contents of FCE scratch disc to external Drive from an iMac Drive

Is there a way of moving the captured HDV video in the Scratch Disc for a project from an iMac hard drive to an external drive if the initial capture placed it in the iMac drive.
FCE captured my original HDV on my iMac in the FCE Document folder. I thought I had specified my external Glyph drive for the captured video but discovered after editing and saving the project to the external GLYPH that the original capture was in the FCE document folder on the iMac --where I did not want it. The project is saved on the external GLYPH. Is there a way of moving the Scratch Disc (original captured video) for this project from the iMac Hard drive to the Glyph drive (in other words, after the initial capture) without screwing up the editing I have already done.
I had created a "Media" folder on the external drive for all media to be used in this project before capturing the video but the Easy set up did not give me a scratch option and placed it in the default (iMac) drive.
This is my first time trying out FCE. Help would be appreciated.
macrobob

Is there a way of moving the captured HDV video in the Scratch Disc for a project from an iMac hard drive to an external drive if the initial capture placed it in the iMac drive.
Yes, just copy the files to the folder(s) you want them to be in.
I normally capture to my internal drive (Final Cut Express Documents > Capture Scratch folder.) After capturing, I copy the clips to a folder on one of my external drives; usually give the folder the name of the shoot. That's my simple way of organizing clips on my hard drives; and it makes backing up easier too.
After you copy the clips, you should delete the clips from their original location (I assume that is your Capture Scratch folder on your system HD). Be sure to Empty the Trash. Very important - make sure you have successfully copied all your clips to the external drive; once you empty trash, the originals are gone.
When you open your project file the next time, all your clips will be offline and you will have to go through the Reconnect Media process to re-associate your clips with your project. After successfully reconnecting media, Save your project and all should be fine.
I highly recommend reading the sections of the manual (online help) about scratch disk locations; and reconnecting media.
but the Easy set up did not give me a scratch option and placed it in the default (iMac) drive.
Scratch locations are not part of Easy Setups. You set your scratch disk location in FCE > System Settings.

My granson was given a Imac g4 without OS disc and a lost user password, can I reset it from scratch?

My grandson was given an Imac g4 without OS disc and a lost user password, can I reset it from scratch?

Dcok44 wrote:
My grandson was given an Imac g4 without OS disc and a lost user password, can I reset it from scratch?
Nope!
You can get replacement System Install & Restore CD/DVDs from Apple's Customer Support - in the US, (800) 767-2775 - for a nominal S&H fee. You'll need to have the model and/or serial number of your Mac available.
If you're not in the US, you may need to go through the regional Apple Store that serves your location to find the contact number. Here's a list of links to all of those - http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/intlstoreroutingpage.html Another resource: International Support Phone #s.
Mac OS X: Changing or resetting an account password

How in the world can I select my external hard drive as a scratch disc for video? Please skip the obvious, like 'is it plugged in?'

At wit's end trying to select my external hard drive to load video on. Time Machine backed stuff up on it so the computer knows it's there but it won't show anywhere else, iMovie or FCE4.

Hi Eric and thanx for the fast response. I've had very little time to piddle around with this iMac and fce4 since I got it a few years back but I DO remember seeing an option back then--when capturing video from the camera--to choose some other scratch disc. Some time after buying and plugging in the ext. drive I clicked on Time Machine (not even knowing what it was--some window popped up and it looked good). I wonder if turning on Time Mach has locked me out of the ext. drive. It doesn't show up ANYWHERE ANYTIME now, not under system pref., user pref. in fce4 or iMovie or anything else EXCEPT when I click on Time Machine it does tell me I've 2.97 terrabytes of space (which has to be the ext. drive; the iMac has 500 gb). I'm thinking of uninstalling and reinstalling fce4 and starting over.

How to determine the scratch disc size?

hello,
once i was reading an adobe pdf "How to get better performance in photoshop cs5" - that was in 2009 or 2010, and may be outdated, but there was a calculation method
to determine the size of a scratch disc. (similar calculation see below, if i can remember right)
i am asking myself, how can i determine the correct size of an external SSD-scratch disc, only used by photoshop (completely empty):
should i buy a 128GB or 256GB or 512GB SSD which is only reserved for photoshop?
basic question 1 : i guess i should avoid to set the internal SSD as photoshop scratch disc, as it slows down everything?
basic question 2 : in sense of maximum performance: better buy an external USB3.0 or thunderbolt SSD? will photoshop really use the extra thunderbolt speed when swapping data?
secondary question:
can i calculate the size regarding my daily working habits?
i am mainly working like this:
- with my imac 27" late 2013 with 32GB RAM and 256 GB internal pci-e SSD (800 MB/sec), which will stay always half empty for performance reasons.
- OSX 10.8 mountain lion and 10.9 mavericks soon
- photoshop cs5, cs6 and cc (always without extended)
- 8bit and 16bit mode
- only RGB
- with latest phocus/Hasselblad and canon RAW Files which produce a basic .psb document at ...
- 10.000 x 7000 px at 300dpi
- with average 10 - 40 main image layers and 20-50 adjustement layers (try to reduce that in 16bit)
- .psb file is 2-20 GB big (file in finder)
- 16bit file compression is off, when saving .psb files (faster handling)
- set photoshop to 70% ram usage (from 32GB RAM)
i wonder how to calculate ?
for example:
10.000 x 7000 px at 300dpi needs for one image layer at 16bit: 2GB RAM in photoshop cs6 or cc (just as a number), this may be wrong
so lets take 2GB RAM and multiply with 10 image layers in my .psb file (16bit) = 20 GB RAM, and multiply with 20 adjustment layers (guess they need less ram, for one lets say 500MB) = 20GB + 10GB = this 16bit .psb layer file would need 30GB RAM, so when i have 32GB in my imac, i set cs6 or cc to 70% ram usage, it misses at least round 8-10GB RAM > can i guess that photoshop would swap these 8GB onto my scratch disc? or do i miss something important in my thinking?
tricky thinking
thanks for help

station_two wrote:
The rule of thumb I follow says to figure on 50 to 100 times the size of your largest file ever multiplied by the number of files you have open. I have seen the scratch file exceed 300 GB once, an admittedly rare occurrence, but it often exceeds 200 GB when stitching large panoramas and the like.
As an example—and stressing that I'm aware that others have even more scratch space than I do—I keep two dedicated, physically separate hard drives as my primary and secondary Photoshop scratch disks and a lot of GB free on my boot drive for the OS. I also have 16 GB of RAM installed.
Additionally, if you only have a single HD, i.e. your boot drive, you'd need it to be large enough to accommodate both the swap files of the OS as well as Photoshop's scratch.
- i dont use HDD anymore only SSDs, both internal and external
- i set history state to only 5 or 6, to improve performance
- i set cache size to 4 and tiles to "big and flat" with 1028kb (there is no "big and much layers" option)
- is this still the rule of thumb? i read it in 2009 , too, guess it was outdated, as cs6 and cc have improved codes in terms of performance?
- if you say "50 to 100 times the size of your largest file ever multiplied by the number of files you have open.":
i will not open more than one document at same time to prevent performance lags, so lets calc like: dokument size in finder (you mean in finder or doc. size shown in photoshop?) = e.g. 5GB x 100 = 500GB, so my external scratch disc SSD, i would buy now, should be at least 500GB, USB 3.0 or thunderbolt ... maybe better thunderbolt, yes? with usb 3.0 i could gain 300MB/sec if thats enough for photoshop?
thanks

Suggestion For An External Scratch Disc needed

I have recently learned that I had my scratch disc set up incorrectly to the same internal SSD in the Mac Book Pro. I assume that to keep the maximum transfer speed I need and external HDD or SSD with FireWire 800 instead of USB. I have found a few of those but they are much larger than what I need in GB and physical size.
I need something portable and reliable since I do most of the work on the road.
Thanks for your suggestions.

Have you considered a G-Drive mobile or G-Drive mini SSD? Both are bus-powered.
If you're ok using AC power, look at the G-Drive mini.
These are very nice units - small, reliable, good reputation.
FireWire (or eSATA if you have a MBP with an ExpressCard slot) is the way to go. USB generally cannot keep up with the sustained throughput required for video.

Photoshop scratch disc (SSD), thunderbolt or USB3.0?

asking the adobe team photoshop engineers, if there is one?
which kind of scratch disc are you using? i think you must know it
i would like to know whether the difference of usb3.0 to thunderbolt is marginally or not?
reading that there is a difference between using the boot disc as scratch disc and using a dedicated separate disc,
i think using the boot disc as scratch is not a good decision, as it is used by the system already, although it would be very fast (700MB/s)
i am professionally working with photoshop cs6 under medium to high demands:
16bit .psb layer files, document size 20x40inch, 300dpi, RGB - my average filesize is 10 - 20 GB per .psb layer file.
currently using an external usb3 500GB SSD (crucial m500) as a photoshop cs6 scratch disc,
under 10.9.1, in the moment i am using an imac 27" late 2013 with internal PCI-e SSD (700MB/sec)
and 32GB RAM. my info panel says, that 32GB RAM is not enough and the scratch disc is active, (50GB is needed, 32GB is available)
calculating scratch disc size: 20 x 100 = 200GB as needed to scratch, the 500GB SSD is a lot more than i need, actually?
in mid 2014 i want to buy the new mac pro with 64GB RAM, also would need a dedicated scratch disc,
as i heard that photoshop is constantly using the scratch disc, also, if it doesnt need it.
it writes the whole image onto the disc, when opened.
my concern is:
USB 3.0 is not built as a pure data connection (as thunderbolt is), it has a weak read/write sustained throughput, as i heard.
as conclusion: must i use an external thunderbolt SSD as photoshop scratch disc to prevent lag and performance drops compared to usb 3.0 or is the difference marginally?
thanks!

For optimal performance in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop CS5 (I will soon upgrade to CS6 or CC), how should I distribute my OS, apps, Scratch, Caches, DNGs, and working TIFFs among these drives?:
120 GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD
240 GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD
960 GB OWC Mercury Accelsior SSD
(connected by Thunderbolt TB1 OWC Helios unit)
Also, probably irrelevant: multiple individual hard drives connected via eSATA and USB3, not RAIDed together
The Accelsior SSD, connected by TB1, is by far the fastest drive. Would partitioning and devoting different parts of it to different functions help?
I'm able to fit the OS, apps, email, etc. on the 120 GB SSD. But I don't assume that I should.
Here's the most relevent info about the rest of my hardware:
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:   iMac
Model Identifier:   iMac12,2
Processor Name:   Intel Core i7
Processor Speed:   3.4 GHz
Number of Processors:   1
Total Number of Cores:   4
L2 Cache (per Core):   256 KB
L3 Cache:   8 MB
Memory:   32 GB
Boot ROM Version:   IM121.0047.B1F
SMC Version (system):   1.72f2
Many thanks,
Mark

SSD as Scratch Disc, SLC or MLC SSD?

hello
i am using a external 512 GB SSD (crucial m4 MLC-SSD) as photoshop cs6 and cc scratch disc and it runs well, i guess.
i get round 390/300 MB/sec read/write speeds over usb 3.0 in my imac 27" late 2013.
as i want to buy a second 500 GB SSD, would photoshop team or people who know detailed technical aspects about
MLC and SLC SSDs go for a SLC or MLC SSD?
i heard that SLC SSD´s (enterprise grade) are more suitable for very frequent read/writes regarding the wear level.
purpose: daily work with photoshop cs6 and cc, 8h per day, huge files: 16bit 300dpi 10.000 x 10.000 pixels with 30-50 layers.
i have 32GB RAM but i heard that photoshop cs6 and cc still use the scratch disc permanently even if there is enough ram.
i am constantly watching the read writes on my ssd discs with istatmenus
thanks

i think if i use a thunderbolt ssd scratch disc for photoshop, it has a superior sustained read and write throughput, is that right?
would you use the thunderbolt ssd in my case, or can i go with the usb3 ssd?
in the moment i have a 256GB thunderbolt ssd and a 500GB usb3 SSD (externals) to choose from.
i think my workflow would benefit from choosing the thunderbolt as scratch disc, but how can i find out
if the difference from using the usb3 ssd is just 5 or 10%?

SuperDrive scratching discs?

Not sure if I'm the only one experiencing this, so I'd like to get other experiences on this.
Picked up a new MacBook from the store today. I've burned a couple of discs and read a couple others, and was rather startled to see spiral scratches around the discs. Saw it on a DVD-R and a CD-RW that I've used in the drive. This is going to destroy my discs, I think!
Any other MacBook owners seeing this with their Superdrives? I'm not sure whether to take it to the Apple store and hope they'll do an on-the-spot exchange (does that ever happen?), or should I call AppleCare and send it in?
Thanks for your comments.

yes mine is scratching discs too with any movement. you can't be serious that they don't consider this a defect? first time it happened i wasn't even using the drive, i just moved the machine while one was in there. the disc became unreadable in the internal drive, luckily i have an external drive which could still read it.
i wish they offered an option with no drive, i have already bought an external dvd burner as the one that came with it is fairly worthless even when it isn't chewing my dvds. i bought this to replace my ibook which also had a worthless drive, couldn't even read the cds it burned (one main reason i bought a new macbook!).
i could also complain about their customer service, but i guess everyone already knows about that. it is upsetting because i am a loyal mac owner (on my 6th one) and always thought apple had a good product, but fear their service will take them down. seems like arrogance to me.
oh, i forgot my fix for the drive is a piece of scotch tape over the slot to remind me not to destroy any more discs (i guess another option could be to tape the computer to my desk).

Capture to HD move to Scratch Disc?

Hello,
I have a Canon DV camcorder and a 250 GB HD on my iMac G5 that is filling up. I usually have enough HD space to capture video without problem, but I run into some sluggish performance as I move through the editing process.
Realizing the FW bus issues with capturing from my Canon camera directly to my 250 GB external LaCie HD, is it feasible to capture to my internal HD and move the captured video to my external HD and edit from there? Are there specific steps I should take so FCE will recognize the new location of the files?
Many thanks,
B.

is it feasible to capture to my internal HD and move the captured video to my external HD and edit from there? Are there specific steps I should take so FCE will recognize the new location of the files?
1. Yes. But you may be able to capture direct to the External. Try a few configurations. No guarantees.
2. Copy the Scratch Disc files over and reconnect. Usually if you reconnect one, the rest follow.
Al

Drive scratches discs

After a lot of troubleshooting and re-installing Boot Camp and Windows XP I discovered that my Optical drive in my iMac has been scratching my Imac discs.
My Mac OSX install DVD keeps getting stuck into wait mode when I try to use Boot Camp drivers. And today i noticed that my Applications CD is also scratched. How do I get them replaced?

I believe apple will replace the dvds for a small nominal charge. You need to give them you machine's serial number.
As for the dvd player. I know the dvd players themselves are pretty cheap. It's the labor that's the the bigger cost (I guess that's true for most anything these days).
If you are willing to do it yourself then googling "replace optical drive in imac" has pleny of hits. Also iFixit has a lot of info on this as well.

How do I stop my macbook telling me scratch discs are full

I have reduced applications photos email etc from my laptop but I am being told 1. Start up discs are full and 2. Scratch discs are full what exactly does this mean. Would more memory help if so what type. The macbook is 2008 2.4 core 2 Duo, 2GB 667 MHz DDR SDRAM. Thanks I know this is a daft question for most people.

Yeah, same problem here, same sentiment! it sure feels like harassment. no solution works (even the absurd ones). makes me regret the update :s

Using an external hard drive (HD), on a network, as a scratch disc?

I am weighing my options on creating a wireless network around an external HD. My macbook pro is getting full and I am going to do a spring cleaning and get everything in order. I pretty much know how I want to do it but I am wondering if I can use an external hard drive as a scratch disc, wirelessly?
Thanks in advance,
Howi

Nevermind. This answered my question: http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-610667.html
Howi

IMac vertical slot scratching discs?

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